Hero
by Alexz Recoro
Summary: "Did you only ask me out on a date to grill me about Oliver Queen?" Felicity's date with Ray Palmer goes horribly wrong. Luckily, her best friend is a hero. "Isn't that what we vigilante hero's do? Save the damsel in distress?" One-shot.


Hero

Author: Alexz Recoro

Summary: "Did you only ask me out on a date to grill me about Oliver Queen?" Felicity's date with Ray Palmer goes horribly wrong. Luckily, her best friend is a hero. "Isn't that what we vigilante hero's do? Save the damsel in distress?" One-shot.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.

Author's Note: I'M BACK! Seriously, I stopped posting (but not writing, or reading) back in 2009 because I just couldn't seem to finish anything. Also, I was stuck in a rut of writing two pages and then I'd just sit and stare at the screen for hours without one thing coming to me. But I'm back now because Arrow is so amazing, I can't stop the ideas from coming! Also, the writers here on the Arrow Fanfiction page are amazing. anthfan is my favorite. If you are reading this anthfan, your stories are amazing! They are part of what made me want to start posting again, because they really inspire me. And make me laugh. On an unrelated note, has anyone here checked out the imdb(.com) message boards for Arrow? What is their problem with Felicity?

Hero

If Felicity didn't get away from this man soon, she was going to stab him with a fork. And while she was reasonably certain that Oliver, Diggle and Roy would bust her out of jail, she really didn't feel like becoming a fugitive.

She didn't know why she had accepted a date invitation from Ray Palmer. He was in Starling to try and take Queen Consolidated away from Oliver, and if Oliver lost the company, then she was out of a job too. But he was handsome and charming, and she figured that maybe she could do some covert research of him and get a nice dinner out of it. Win-win.

Only now it was turning out to be more like a lose-lose. Because from the second she had gotten into his car, the only thing he seemed to want to talk about was Oliver, or QC. At first, Felicity had played to her hair color and distracted him. But he kept circling back around to Oliver, and if he thought she didn't notice, she had no idea how he made his money because he was a complete idiot.

She had kept brushing him off because she was hungry, and the smells that filled this restaurant were amazing, but now that he had tried to steer the conversation back to Oliver for the third time in as many minutes, she was starting to lose her appetite. With an inner angry growl she put her fork down. Something must have shown on her face because Ray instantly stopped asking her about Oliver.

"Felicity? Is something wrong with your food?" He asked. Felicity pushed her seat back from the table.

"Ray, did you only ask me out on a date to grill me about Oliver Queen?" She asked. Her tone of voice was one that Oliver, Roy and Diggle lived in fear of. If she had asked any one of them a question in that voice, they would have been smart and told her the truth.

Ray Palmer was an idiot.

"Of course not! Why would you think that?" He actually had the gall to pretend to be insulted and hurt. Felicity could see right through him.

"Because you've been trying to get me to talk about him all night. Do you think I'm an idiot? Did you think you could charm all of Mr. Queen's secrets out of his pretty blonde secretary and use them to steal his company? News flash, Mr. Palmer. Oliver is not only my boss, he also happens to be one on my best friends. And I don't talk about my friends behind their backs." She stood up, reaching for her purse.

"Where are you going?" Ray asked, half standing himself.

"This date is over. And there will not be a second. Goodbye."

"But you didn't even eat anything!" Ray called after her.

"I lost my appetite." She yelled back over her shoulder.

She handed her coat check ticket to the girl, ignoring the stares of other patrons, and stormed out of the building as soon as it was in her hands, not even pausing to put it on until she was out on the street. Where she started walking, because Ray had picked her up. She dug for her phone, planning on maybe calling Roy if she couldn't get a cab, when two things happened at once. Her phone vibrated in her hand, an alert popping up, and a cab pulled right up to her. She blinked, but didn't question her good fortune and climbed in.

"Thanks." She told the driver, a well dressed older man with gray hair and kindly green eyes with laugh lines around them. "I was just going to call a friend because I didn't think I'd be able to get a cab around here."

"Good looking gal like you, dressed to the nines, standing out in front of a swanky restaurant all by herself? My mother would spin in her grave if I didn't pick you up." The cabby said seriously, pulling away from the curb. "Bad night?"

"Worst date ever." Felicity confirmed, glancing down at her phone.

"So bad, you weren't even going to let you take you home?" The cabby asked in amazement.

"If I spent two more seconds with him, I was going to stab him with my fork." Felicity said bluntly. "Walking away seemed like the better option."

"Can't argue with you there honey. Where can I take you?"

Felicity gave him her home address and sat back to see what had alerted on her phone and frowned. Oliver had entered the lair three hours ago. And he was still there. She quickly checked her tracking app, and found that Diggle and Roy were both home. This meant that Oliver was in the lair, by himself, probably training and blowing off simple human concerns like eating and sleeping. She was reminded that she left a very nice restaurant without eating anything. She could go pick up some Chinese food, take it over to the lair and get Oliver to eat while she got a friendly ear to complain about her date too. Win-win. Ignoring how her last 'win-win' had turned out, Felicity quickly used her phone to log on to the website of her favorite Chinese place and placed her order. Just as she finished, the cab pulled up to her building.

"This is you honey." The cabby said.

"Thank you so much for stopping." Felicity said, handing him the fare and a nice tip. "I really appreciate it."

"Just doing my job, miss. Hope the rest of your night goes better than your date."

"It's looking up already." Felicity promised, hoping out and shutting the door behind her.

She ran up to her apartment long enough to grab her car keys and some more money, then she was back out the door.

*ARROW*ARROW*ARROW*ARROW*ARROW*ARROW*ARROW*ARROW*ARROW*ARROW*

Oliver blinked as Felicity suddenly appeared in front of him in the lair, holding bags of what smelled like Chinese food. He had been so deep in his own thoughts, he hadn't heard her come in.

"Hey." He said, dropping off the salmon ladder and grabbing a towel. "What are you doing here?"

"Be nice to me, I brought food." Felicity said, holding the bags out in his direction. "Want to take these so I can take my coat off?"

"Of course." Oliver took the food from her and crossed to set it on the table he used to work on his arrows. It was empty, they could eat there. When he turned around to pull up some chairs for them, he stopped dead.

"Wow." He said, taking in the dress that Felicity's coat had been hiding. "You look great." He narrowed his eyes. "Were you on a date? Did you leave a date to come feed me?"

"Yes and no." Felicity said, crossing to the table. "Yes, I was on a date. No, I did not leave it to feed you. I walked out because Ray Palmer is an asshole and an idiot, and I wasn't in the mood to get arrested for assault. So I walked away before I did something that I would have to be arrested for. Mind you, he managed to piss me off bad enough that I didn't even eat. Hence, the Chinese food." She sat down and started dishing out the food, playfully smacking Oliver's hand with a pair of chopsticks when he tried to eat some right out of the carton.

"Was he enough of an asshole that I need to suit up and break his legs? Or did you take care of it?" Oliver used his chopsticks like a pro, scooping up some noodles. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until the smell of the food hit him.

"I took care of it. He wasn't handsy or anything. He just kept trying to get me to tell him all about you." She frowned and touched her curls. "Does this hair really make me look that stupid? Should I stop dying it?"

"No." Oliver reached out and pulled her hand away from her hair like he was afraid she was going to change it through touch. "No, you do not look like an idiot. You look like a beautiful genius. Ray Palmer is just blind." She smiled at him, but then both of them heard someone enter the lair and looked up.

Laurel came into view, stopping when she saw Felicity and Oliver sitting at the table.

"Hey, Laurel." Oliver said in surprise. "What's up?"

"I was looking for you." She said, eyeing Felicity instead. "I was going to ask you if you wanted to go out to dinner with me. What are you doing here Felicity?"

"Eating dinner." Felicity said calmly, taking a bite of her dumpling.

"Dressed like that?" Laurel motioned at Felicity's dress.

"I was out on a date. It was so horrible, I left before I could even eat. Luckily, I have Starling City's vigilante on speed dial, and figured he could rescue this night if anyone could."

"Isn't that what us vigilante hero's do?" Oliver teased her gently. "Save the damsel in distress?"

"I'm not a damsel, Oliver." Felicity scolded playfully. "Damsel's just stand around and scream for the hero to save them. I'm a scream and run away as fast as I can type of girl. Or run and hide behind you."

"Me?"

"You're the hero here Oliver. Pay attention!" She teased.

"Hey now, you know you're the brains behind this operation, I'm just the muscle."

"Just the muscle?" Felicity was grinning and her eyes were sparkling. Oliver could feel himself grinning, really grinning, back at her.

"Yep. You aim the arrows, I just shoot them."

Laurel cleared her thought, causing both of them to look back at her.

"So, Ollie, about dinner. . ."

"Sorry Laurel." Oliver held up his chopsticks. "Felicity went to all the trouble to bring me dinner, I'm going to eat here and cheer her up about the rotten date. Rain check?"

"Sure." Laurel said and little stiffly before turning and hurrying away from them and out of the lair. Felicity put down her chopsticks and frowned at him.

"Oliver, you should have gone. I'm a big girl, I don't need you to sit here and hold my hand just because I had a bad date."

"Felicity, I'm your friend. Sitting here and holding your hand because you had a bad date is pretty much my job description." To illustrate his point, he reached out with his free hand and took her tiny one in his big one. "So tell me, just how stupid is Ray Palmer when it comes to you?"

"He tried to lie to me when I asked him a question in my 'serious' voice."

"Bad move." Oliver said, wincing.

"I know! Seriously, how did he make all his money, when he couldn't even read me well enough to see how pissed off I was getting when he kept asking me questions about you!" She tilted her head. "I'm sorry, but do I have a sign on my forehead that says 'Pretty blonde! Ask me out and I'll tell you all my secrets!' You would tell me if I did, right?"

"Yes, Felicity, I would tell you if you had a sign on your forehead." Felicity mock-glared at him and pulled her hand away so she could swat him.

"Jerk."

"Be nice." Oliver scolded, capturing her hand when she tried to hit him again. He sat there for a few moments, just staring at her. She looked beautiful, sitting in the lair in an amazing dress, eating Chinese food with him because she knew he wouldn't eat otherwise. She had just had a horrible date, and her instinct had been to grab dinner and run to him. The thought warmed his heart, and helped him make a decision.

"What?" She tilted her head, staring back at him.

"Felicity, would you like to go to dinner with me?"

"Oliver, we're eating dinner right now."

"No, that's not. . ." Oliver sighed. "Felicity, I'm trying to ask you out on a date."

"OH!" Felicity's blue eyes went wide and she stared at Oliver in shock. "But. . . what about Laurel?"

"Laurel is my past. There's too much history there. She'll never see me as I am now, without remembering how the old me hurt her and lied to her. You see me, the real me. You always have." He started to rub his thumb across the back of her hand. "There's no lies, no secrets between us."

"Oliver." Felicity was smiling at him now.

"So? Will you let me take you to dinner?"

"Yes. I'd like that."

Author's Note2: Well, here it is, my first posted Arrow fic. Please review, because although I like to think that my writing has improved in the five years since I last posted anything, I haven't written anything for an audience in a long time, and I'm rusty.


End file.
